Nexus 4 shortage explained, sort of

The Nexus 4 launched almost a month ago, but in case you managed to get one, consider yourself lucky. The launch was marred by availability issues and even four weeks later the Nexus 4 is nowhere to be found.

Now LG is saying that the Nexus 4 is hard to get because of “huge demand” although one would expect Google and LG to do crunch a few numbers before releasing a flagship device with enough stock to last 14.2 minutes.

In a chat with CNET, LG UK exec Andy Coughlin said the phone “had proven extremely popular” and retailers have been met with huge demand. What’s more, Coughlin says demand through the Play Store has been very high. So it seems Google simply got the figures wrong, very wrong.

There are other issues as well. As the Nexus 4 is practically impossible to get at the Play Store, retailers and carriers who managed to get their hands on it are charging a premium, well north of Google’s $299 price tag. LG says the price of its products is decided by individual retailers, which is really a nice way of saying “we don’t give a damn.”

It is hard to blame LG in all of this, though. Demand is undoubtedly high and retailers are looking to cash in. That is what they are supposed to do. However, Google deserves to be called out for the botched launch. We said it before and we will say it again – Google really needs to learn how to launch phones.